Agrisuite Diagnostic (AD)

Africa’s agribusiness sector is projected to reach $1 trillion in 2025, supported by a rapidly growing middle-income class, availability of cultivable land and local government programs to increase agricultural productivity. In addition, limited financial availability, resource constraints, as well as environmental pollution and climate change resulting from use of agrochemicals and other agricultural activities is offering increasing potentials for precision agriculture, which simply translates into less water use, agrochemicals use, more production, and less nutrient runoff. Precision farming results in better agricultural techniques with clear evidence that where precision agriculture is widely used, water, seeds, and fertilizer use can greatly go down, by 30 to 40 percent. AgriSuite Diagnostics provides an interactive digital platform for farmers to maximize cultivation efficiency with minimal use of water, agrochemicals and nutrient runoff. Using our digital platform, farmers would be able to detect soil type, pest infestation, quantity of water and agrochemicals to apply

Poor use of agro-chemicals results in nutrient runoff and eutrophication of water bodies reducing oxygen and negatively affecting the aquatic ecosystem. For instance, land-based sources account for approximately 80% of marine pollution globally. Excessive use of fertilizers leads to significant increase in the emission of greenhouse gases. It is interesting to note that, nitrous oxide is over 300 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. It is worth noting that greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture have increased by 8.8% since 1990. Precision agriculture normally requires the expertise of agronomists for analysis and interpretation of cultivation problems, equipment for diagnosing soil and crop problems, as well as determining the actual dosage of agro-chemicals and water required. However, over 90% of smallholder farmers in Cameroon cannot afford agronomic services due to low coverage by agronomists amidst millions of smallholder farmers (SHFs). SHFs therefore, resort to intuitive approaches that result in significant errors to diagnose and solve cultivation problems, are unable to determine the right amount of agrochemicals or water to apply. Poor mastery of climatic conditions and rainfall patterns in agriculture results in nutrient runoff and contamination of water bodies due to poor timing of agrochemical use. 

AgriSuite Diagnostics (AD) is a digital platform, which integrates AI, weather data, and agronomic models to help farmers build resilience to climate change, sustainably increase agricultural productivity. AD integrates 3 main components:

(1)          Farm diagnostics (FD); (a) optimal recommendations on the type, amount, and timing for fertilizers and pesticide application. This reduces soil nutrient overload and agrochemical run-offs to water bodies. (b) Detect pest infestation or lack of moisture or nutrients in soils under varying climatic conditions. This avoids needless use of agrochemicals and hence reduces agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, (c) detects and displays potential water stress on a dashboard, and calculates the required amount of irrigation to reach a more normal amount of water. Furthermore, FD also: Assesses the suitability of a region for the production of a particular crop; predicts pests and diseases before they occur; determines optimal planting dates for different crops.

(2)          Farm inputs module: It reduces time and logistics involved in sourcing organic, environmentally friendly and climate-smart agrochemicals, seeds, and  farm equipment; provide personalized information on how to apply the agrochemicals; and provides real-time alerts to farmers on market information on climate-smart farm inputs 

 (3)          Training and connecting module: To enhance farmer education and awareness

The challenges illustrated above are faced by over 90% of Smallholder farmers. SHFs produce up to 80% of food consumed in Africa and Asia, yet they are among the poorest and marginalized in the world. This group of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, numbered around 33 million, representing 80% of all farmers in the region, face many challenges preventing them from scaling up their agricultural cultivation capacity. These challenges include; poor mastery of weather conditions in relation to agriculture and errors in diagnoses of soil and crop cultivation problems.  The platform will not only reduce agricultural runoffs and greenhouse gas emissions but will significantly increase agricultural production.

Also, the platform will provide farmers daily information for tactical decision making and establish the trust necessary for the adoption of new agricultural technology, crop protection, improved seed, hybrids, and even new crops. Combined with support information services such as market prices, agronomic tips, harvest and growth stage predictions and alerts, farmers can arm themselves with information to help increase yields, efficiency, and profitability.

With Agrisuite Diagnostic, we are tapping into a very strategic sector and unlocking the incredible yet untapped potential of farmers especially smallholder farmers who depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Smallholder farmers have the potential to significantly increase output and enhance their standards of living with access to capital, quality inputs, and farm technology. Our vision is to enhance the output of smallholder farmers through our technology and improve agricultural techniques. We want to help increase food security by equipping farmers with affordable agricultural technology which will food availability, farm income, and reduce poverty among the farmers.

Other platforms such as M -Farm, Agrix Tech, and AgFuse:

• Only deploy one or two of the four components in isolation, AgriSuite Diagnostics considers all the four necessary components for optimizing crop cultivation  
• Are highly depended on human intervention for making decision to diagnose and solve cultivation problems, AgriSuite Diagnostics is an expert system, which automates the decision-making process using Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the app includes clear information for users to self-understand and apply the technology
• Rely solely on trust for transactions, AgriSuite Diagnostics uses blockchain to optimize transparency and accountability, involving self-executing digital contracts for financial and insurance services

• Simply focus on sharing information about good agronomic practises, AgriSuite Diagnostics additionally uses AI to provide resources (for soil analysis and pest detection) that set up opportunities as well as the incentives that motivate change towards precision agriculture.
• Lack customization in terms of local languages understood by illiterate farmers, AgriSuite uses Natural Language Processing (NLP); to translate English to any local language in sub-Saharan Africa with added text-to-speech capability. Due to lack of Wi-Fi networks, AgriSuite Diagnostics includes an AgriSuite SIM service, which operates like any other cellular mobile SIM, but specifically provides free access to voice and SMS-based agricultural information on all the four components of AgriSuite Diagnostics. This includes updates on weather forecast and ways to adapt to a changing climate, how and when to rotate crops, fertilizer blend recommendations, market alerts about quantity and quality demands of farm inputs from farmers

Blockchain: A decentralized distributed ledger system that maintains digital signed transactions of users in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Transactions made are recorded chronologically and secured using cryptography and can be used to ensure traceability, accountability and ensure self-executing digital contracts that execute when a set of pre-defined conditions have been satisfied.

Convolutional Neural Networks: A deep learning/ artificial intelligence algorithm for image classification. This is applied to automate plant disease detection as well as diagnosis of soil nutrient or moisture deficiency

Natural Language Processing: A machine learning algorithm to translate English to any local language in sub-Saharan Africa with added text-to-speech capability, making it possible for all farmers to use the application with minimal assistance.

Mobile phones and desktop computers: The applications are built to work on mobile phones and desktop computers, offering the following functions to users: farmer database management; communication with farmers and other value chain actors; transaction tracking and mobile payment management; and administration / data analysis, support print and platforms and agricultural extension resource repositories, web-based resources such as online learning, dissemination of training sessions, among other functions. The apps can also function off-line, and allows information sharing between / among internet-enabled and conventional mobile phones. 

Due to COVID-19, we have been unable to widely test our technology. I prototype has been developed and is ready for testing but at the moment, it has not been officially tested. We plan to test the prototype in Cameroon and Ghana by the end of Ghana all things being equal.

We are excited about developing a technology that assist farmers in sub-saharan Africa overcome some of the most severe challenges inhibiting their growth and living standards. Challenges such as poor mastery of weather conditions in relation to agriculture, errors in diagnoses of soil and crop cultivation problems and pest infestation control has threaten agricultural growth in sub-saharan Africa for many decades. Agrisuite diagnostic has the potential to significantly reduce agricultural runoffs and greenhouse gas emissions and significantly increase agricultural production. Increasing agricultural output of smallholder farmers will increase food production in the region, increase income levels of the farmers and their families and enhance their standards of living. Our technology will significantly increase efficiency in farm activities and and maximise the time farmers use to farming activities by detecting the right soil type, quantity of water needed per crop and product needed to reduce pesticides. 

An economy that ensure food sufficiency will promote better living and proper quality of life. Ensuring sufficient food production, reduce poverty levels and better living standards for all has been the priority for most international and local policy makers and Agrisuite Diagnostic has the potential of delivering that at the lower cost possible.

When we kickstart Agrisuite diagnostics later this year (2020), we  are targeting up to half a million (500 000) smallholder farmers in Cameroon and Ghana. We are targeting Cameroon and Ghana at the start because most of our research was centered in these countries. We interviewed most of the farmers and consulted with experts in these countries. In the next 5 years, we intend to serve smallholder farmers in over 7 countries in sub-saharan Africa. We estimate that we will reach and serve over 4 million smallholders farmers in collaboration with our partners in these countries. 

Agrisuite diagnostic (AD) was developed to transform the way agriculture is done in Africa, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the use of technology in agriculture is very limited. This innovation will change the way smallholder farmers perform their farm activities. Given that smallholder farmers depend on farming for their livelihoods transforming the sector and increasing agricultural productivity will directly enhance the livelihoods of the farmers, reduce poverty and hunger, and increase food security in the society. In the next five years, we intend to transform farming for about one million farmers across seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. We plan to train and educate these farmers on the latest agricultural techniques and technologies and keep them informed of trends in the agricultural sector both locally and internationally. We intend to simplify the trading of agricultural products by linking farmers to buyers. We intend to be a major player in the agricultural sector in Africa.

Lack of internet connectivity and the remoteness of most areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, reaching our target clients will be a massive challenge. Given that most smallholder farmers are not formally educated, training and educating them to use this technology will be a massive challenge as well.

A core part of our business strategy will be pilot our product and engage in extensive training and education of smallholder farmers in the use of platforms. These education and training programs will enable farmers experience our products first hand and understand the key functionalities of the program.  Due of low literacy levels and the lack of Wi-Fi networks in most remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa countries, AgriSuite Diagnostics includes an AgriSuite SIM service, which operates like any other cellular mobile SIM, but specifically provides free access to voice and SMS-based agricultural information on all the four components of AgriSuite Diagnostics. This includes updates on weather forecasts and ways to adapt to a changing climate, how and when to rotate crops, fertilizer blend recommendations, market alerts about quantity and quality demands of farm inputs from farmers

12 people are currently employed on a full-time basis

Our founder and CEO, Dr. Fabrice Abunde is a Designer in Sustainable Systems Engineering with strong people management & leadership skills. With over five years of experience in process systems engineering, he has worked in projects across Norway, Ghana, Cameroon & Germany, producing over 15 original researched techniques/technologies, published in industry leading journals. He is an innovator with entrepreneurial mindset and founder of Abunde Sustainable Engineering Group (AbundeSEG), a tech startup, which leverages on model-based techniques, artificial intelligence and digital technology to unlock Africa’s potentials in the food-water-energy-health nexus. 

We have a very young and diverse team of experts doing high quality research in different parts of the world. Our team consist of process engineers, agricultural economist, disaster managers, soil scientist, IT engineers and marketers. These individuals are pursuing their master degrees or completing their PhDs with multiple years of experience in research and business. We have studied the agricultural sector in Africa and understand the growth potentials that exist in the systems as well as the challenges facing the sector.

The business model will involve partnering with local governments, NGOs, universities, and farmer's unions at various levels. Basically, this model will involve all major stakeholders in the agricultural value chain. The partnership with the aforementioned institutions will mainly be to help distribute the information more efficiently to local farmers, university students studying agriculture as well as other stakeholders in order to ensure that climate-smart agriculture becomes a sustainable and standard practice. The project will also partner with local and international telecommunication companies to support delivery of agricultural information’s via different channels such as SMS or voice mails. for secure networks and a means of payment (mobile money). Because of low literacy levels and the lack of Wi-Fi networks, AgriSuite Diagnostics includes an AgriSuite SIM service, which operates like any other cellular mobile SIM, but specifically provides free access to voice and SMS-based agricultural information on all the four components of AgriSuite Diagnostics. This includes updates on weather forecast and ways to adapt to a changing climate, how and when to rotate crops, fertilizer blend recommendations, market alerts about quantity and quality demands of farm inputs from farmers.

Even though the initiative solves a very pertinent climate-related issue, which is coupled to environmental production and reducing hunger (through increased agricultural productivity) in developing countries, the project also has a strong business model to ensure its sustainable financing and guarantee economic growth.  The business model includes the following revenue generation streams:

• Freemium subscription coupled to advertisement packages: The platform will involve a freemium package, which will attract many users. This is because it involves services, which are not only relevant to farmers, but also a wide variety of agricultural stakeholders, including students, input suppliers, agro-dealers, agricultural researchers, etc. These users will be used to generate traffic, through a mailing list, as well as followers on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc. This traffic will be used to generate revenue through advertisements, whereby companies or other users willing to advertise their agricultural-related services or products can use at a fee. We have created different packages, which include Gold package (advertisement through the mailing list, the AgriSuite online platform, and our social media sites), the Silver package (advertisement through the mailing list and the AgriSuite online platform) and Bronze package (advertisement through the AgriSuite online platform).
• Premium subscriptions: Larger users such as agricultural research institutions, NGOs, schools, and local governments can purchase premium subscriptions, which includes licenses for a group of users.
• Franchise models by other countries: Other countries willing to implement the technology have the possibility to purchase a franchise.

The main reason we are applying to the 2020 Solve Global Challenge is to leverage your global network to make our technology widely visible. We believe working with you and your partners will give our innovation visibility and credibility. Training and mentorship from your organization and partners will assist in the growth and development of our business. We hope to be the leader developers of affordable agricultural solutions to farmers in Africa. We hope that our solutions will enhance agricultural productivity, livelihoods of farmers, increase food security and economic prosperity in Africa 

Given the important problem we are trying to solve within the agricultural sector in Africa, it is important to partner and collaborate with individuals and organisations buildings similar solutions. Solve has an extensive global network with wide range of resources we can benefit from. We are looking to partner, collaborate and leverage on some of the resources of these global organisations. We have very little practical experience in the market we venturing into with our technology. Given that we plan to scale to carter for the entire African continent in the long term, we aim to maximise the wealth of experience and strategic resources the solve global next work. 

Agfuse

Agrisuite Diagnostic is an integrated digital technology which uses blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning to diagnose and solve cultivation problems faced by farmers in Africa.